A Paranormal Investigation of the Underground Tunnel between ITE and Homer Babbidge

Halloweekend just wrapped up, Halloween’s just around the corner, and UConn is spookier than ever. From pumpkin blow-ups in North dining to getting drunk whilst surrounded by sratty mermaids and aliens, Huskies are in fool spooky spirit. But what about the true meaning of Halloween? When you get haunted, not by the girl you made out with at Ted’s, but by real ghosts? In the spirit of all things spooky, The Black Sheep investigated UConn’s underground portal to hell itself: The Doghouse.

Hidden away between ITE and Homer Babbidge, the Doghouse is craftily camouflaged amongst the grass and ghosts of students past. Many students go years without recognizing it as a separate building from the library, and those who do can feel its ominous presence. Made almost entirely of glass, it wants you to forget about it by hiding in plain sight. Inside, you’ll find only an elevator, which will take you three levels deep into the toxic wasteland of UConn’s underground.

It’s within these cold, dark, underground walls that the true evil of UConn emerges. Applications and Technology Solutions claims to be housed down here, but UConn’s campus map doesn’t recognize the building as more than an empty structure. What really happens down here? Is that wailing sound steam or the sound of tortured students past, damned to eternal finals because they didn’t sign their roommate agreement on time, or stole cups from McMahon dining? The wails of these students would strike fear into the heart of any Husky, especially as Susan’s witchy cackle grows closer and closer to the door.

Venturing further, the twisting hallways and unforgiving institutional beige walls become quickly disorienting. This far below, no one can hear you scream, and door after door reading Authorized Personnel Only quickly becomes an unrecognizable cycle, each corridor growing colder, each creak become more inexplicable. Is the floor just settling, or are those the footsteps of mutant Jonathans stalking their new prey? If you listen closely enough, you can hear whispers from behind the doors. Are these fellow students, hiding from the unknown? Or are these the men responsible for the wicked spirits of UConn, doing their devilish work beneath our very feet?

If you manage to escape these labyrinth-like halls, prepare to face the ultimate omen, the signal that in a horror movie guarantees you’ll die first: the mysterious, always-lit blue light. Stare into its neon glow and know that every assignment you’ve completed in your mediocre academic career means nothing when you’re gripped with the certainty of being fed to Jonathan before the end of the night. While the button underneath says “Push for Help” don’t dare to push it, or cement your fate as being fuel for Susan’s fireplace.

If you do dare make it out, find yourself crashing back into the safety of the un-haunted ITE building. The students there may seem confused, but they haven’t witnessed the horrors you have, wandering below the soil in UConn’s most ominous building. How did you make it here? Are you still yourself? How long were you gone? And most importantly… what lurks behind the walls of the Doghouse?